Shelving arrangement and container therefor.



M. B. DODSON.

SHELVING ARRANGEMENT AND CONTAINER THEREFOR. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 19.1915.

Patented May 28,1918.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Miss MARY B. DonsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Geneva, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Shelving Arrange mentsand Container Therefor, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to shelving arrangements and container therefor,and'has for its principal objects, to provide an arrangement whereineach shelf has individual supporting means; to provide a constructionthat permits the removal of one or. more shelves without displacing theremaining ones; to provide a construction in which any number of shelvesor trays may be partly or completely removed without changing the levelof the shelves sufficiently to disturb articles placed thereon; toprovide an arrangement whereby the supporting legs of the various traysoccupy a minimum of space; to provide a construction whereby the shelvesare completely housed in a small spa'ce; to provide an arrangementwhereby the house or container can e opened completely at one side; toprovide a container that has its interior surfaces entirely free fromany projecting or protruding elements whereby the inside thereof may beperfectly, easily and quickly cleaned; to provide a container having avertically sliding opening whereby the lower tray may be removed withoutexposing the remaining ones; to provide means associated with the traysfor supporting objects that are liable to be displaced; to provide anarrangement .and a construction that is extremely simple, one that canbe manufactured very cheaply, one that is exceptionally durable andstrong, one that can be kept clean; and, in general, to provide aconstruction and arrangement of the class described.

The particular form of the invention illustrated is a butter ballcontainer, but it is apparent that an extremely wide range of things canbe accomplished by the arrangement and construction shown,for instance,the arrangement might be used as a wardrobe container, such as a trunkor suit case. It might be used as a display case for various articles,such'as fruit, jewelry, etc., or as a kitchen table with. a plurality ofsmaller tables underneath. It could be used as a book case, andin thisconnection it will be apparent that'one shelf or tray can he slidCONTAINER THEREFOR.

Specification o f Lettex-s Patent.

Patented May 28, 1218.

Application filed August 19, 1916. Serial Want/783.

tents of the next lower shelf. It can be.

used as an egg container for shi ping eggs by mail or express. The widey varying uses possible need not be individually set out but enough hasbeen specified that it is'apparent that the invention is not to belimited to a butter ball container.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation, partly in section;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig.1;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 1.

In the form illustrated in the drawings, 11 designates the container orboxas a whole, which is gage metal and having a coating of enamel orsome similar substance that can be easily cleaned. it mightbe in theform of a frame having open sides and back. The box 11 has side members12 and rear portion 13 and bottom and top parts 14 and 15 respectively.Secured to the top 15 is a handle 16 for moving the container from'placeto place. The bottom 14 has an up-turned portion 17 at the forward endthereof and the'side members 12 each have their extreme forward endsbent outwardly and then back on themselves, as shown at 18. By thisarrangement a vertically sliding door 19 is furnished with guide slotsin which it may be raised or lowered. The up-turned portion of thebottom art permits the container to be closed wlthout having the door orcover 19 extend below the floor 14. This door 19 is provided with ahandle 20 for raising and lowering it. The top 15 has its forward edge21 bent downwardly, and the door 19 has its upper edge 22 bentrearwardly. This makes a comparatively tight preferably made of lightmust necessarily be as they all rest on a common foundation. Theseshelves are made of some comparatively thin but strong material, andlike the container are preferably coated with enamel or some other 11kesubstance. The legs of the various shelves when they are all in placelie very close to each other, in fact, they are in slight contact. Theshelves are provided with openings 27, in this instance, shown ascircular, but it should be understood that the shelves may be plain orhave other openings or ledges of any shape or character that w1llfurnish holding means for particular ob] ects that it is desired toplace thereon. Because of the legs, which can be integral, the ob]ectslaced in the openings are prevented from being displaced when the shelfis removed.

From the foregoing description it will be evident that any one of theshelves can be partly or completely slid outwardly. In either case theforward leg of the shelf rests on the same plane that the containerrests on. This permits the shelves to remain substantially level whenthey are all but completely removed from the container. The trays orshelves can be each pulled out a greater distance than the one abovethereby forming a ste illadder arrangement whereby goods on eac shelfmay be exposed to view. When the device is to be used as a foodcontainer and kept in a cool place, such as an ice chest, it willsometimes be desirable to place ice in the container itself, especiallyso, when it is to be removed from the ice chest for any length of time.To this end the space below the lowermost shelf can be filled withcracked ice.

It will be obvious that the details of construction may be varied moreor less without departing from the scope of the invention as set forthin the broader of the claims, and I do not wish to be limited to thedetails of construction.

Iclaimzj 1. In a container and shelving arrangement therefor, a frame,and a plurality of shelves, said shelves adapted to have separate legsresting on a common foundatlon and arranged to be placed in said'framein nested relation whereby they stand one above the other and capable ofbeing individually and bodily removed. 2. In a device of the classdescribed, a container having a smooth interior, a vertically slidingdoor, and a plurality of shelves 3. In a device of the class described,a'

plurality of shelves, legs for said shelves said shelves adapted tostand in spaced apart relation, the legs of the different shelves beingof different lengths so that when said legs rest on a common base theshelves are held in their spaced apart relation, and a container forsaid shelves, said container having a vertically sliding door wherebythe lower of said trays may be removed without exposing the remainingshelves.

4. In a device of the class described, a box-like structure having afront adapted to be opened, a vertically slidin 'door for said openfront, a plurality of s elves having openings in the tops thereof, saidshelves adapted to enter said container in nested relation, and legs forsaid shelves, said legs being of varying length whereby they rest on acommon foundation.

MARY B. DODSON.

Witnesses:

WALTER H. REDFmw, GLADYs G. PERIN.

